The Smarter Sculpted Physique: Training | Nutrition | Muscle Gain | Fat Loss

These are the 10 strategies or ways of thinking that Scott and Kevin try to teach all their clients. This isn't about this or that diet, or this or that workout plan; rather, it's about the longterm principles that work. The 10 Strategies: ♦ ONE. Focus on Process Goals over Achievement Goals • Don't focus on the top of the staircase. Focus on the next step, then the next, then the next. • The goal is the process, and the process is the goal. • Be focused on where you're at, and get it done. ♦ TWO. Focus on Small Wins • Each small win builds momentum, and you can build off each one. • Sometimes "staying consistent" is the most important on. Sometimes "nothing's happening" is itself a win. ♦ THREE. Coax the body. • A lot of this is learning what coaxing the body really means. I.e. it's not "coax the body for a week" and then if something isn't happening, drop calories be 300. • Timelines are a warning sign that you're trying to force something; the body changes at the rate it changes. This is different for different people. • Don't demonize food groups, learn what tolerable hunger is, and ride that wave. ♦ FOUR. Avoid Fads and Get Real. • It's not the diet. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about Paleo, low carb, high carb, vegan, Atkins, HCG -- whatever. Focusing on these things is itself the issue. Many diets work, once you nail the other principles we're talking about (getting the process right, coaxing the body instead of forcing it, etc.) • Choose the behavior; choose the consequences. ♦ FIVE. Learn to Listen to Biofeedback. • In Scott's opinion, this is the number one thing a coach can teach a client. • Forget the numbers. That's outside in. Biofeedback is inside out. What worked for you however many years ago is not what will work for you now. Biofeedback has changed! • Focus on the general principles. What do the successful diets have in common (a caloric deficit)? People who gain a lot of muscle -- what do they have in common (caloric surplus and decent training)? Get those right, apply the general principles to biofeedback, and the rest fall into place. • One potential "hiccup" with this, is the fact that people can't read their own biofeedback for emotional reasons. E.g., you emotionally want a cheat day, so it's harder to accurately gauge your actual, physiological need for one. (This leads into the next point.) ♦ SIX. Establish Rapport (with the client, or with yourself) • Scott likes Vern Gambetta's quote that the role of the coach is to go from a guiding light to a mirror. • Rapport is about tuning, learning what will and won't work, how best to send and receive a message. This also occurs inside your own head. Learning to read your biofeedback, for example, demands a certain amount of rapport with yourself. • "Establish" is a verb, and an ongoing on. Think of it like tuning a guitar or a piano. You don't just go in and tune everything. You make an adjustment, then listen. Make an adjustment, then listen. This takes time. ♦ SEVEN. Create an Atmosphere of Trust, Not Judgment (again: with the client, or with yourself) • Without trust, the coaching relationship falls apart. • For a coach, this is obviously done between coach and client... but even then, this is always about self-talk, and what's going on in the client's head. The client should be able to trust themselves. ♦ EIGHT. Be More Person-Centered • It's about the person in front of you. Physiologically, this is about biofeedback,

The bodybuilding bench press is not the same as the powerlifting bench press. Today's episode was all about understanding WHY you're doing a movement (like the bench), and how that affects your lift. The two styles of bench press are so, so different, yet if you walk up to any trainee in the gym and ask them which one they're doing, you'll often get a totally blank look! Scott laid out 5 basic rules for nailing your barbell bench press technique, and of course Kevin had a LOT to add with respect to the powerlifting style bench press. ♦ Rule 1. Decide Why You are Doing It. ♦ Are you doing this for strength (powerlifting) or for chest development and aesthetics (bodybuilding)? If you’re doing a powerlifting bench press, you’re training the movement. If you’re bodybuilding, you’re training the muscle, and the bench press movement is a means to an end. In powerlifting you’re recruiting muscle beyond the pecs. In bodybuilding you’re trying to hit the pec muscles first and foremost. In powerlifting, your overload comes from more poundage and more volume, and in bodybuilding there more emphasis on the volume aspect. In powerlifting, you might even just be “practicing” the movement. ♦ Rule 2. Feet Up or Feet Down ♦ Obviously, the powerlifting bench press has feet down. In bodybuilding, you can decide. In a bodybuilding bench press, your feet can be up or down, but don’t switch it up within a single workout. With your feet up, you create a joint-stress transfer. Without the feet on the ground as your base of support, the stress gets transferred to the hips, and then to the shoulders. This leads to more muscle recruitment in the pecs, since there are no stresses on the other joints like anterior delts, posterior chain. The feet up are an advanced progression. If you’re an intermediate, keep the feet on the ground. You can also try putting your feet on a box that’s not as high as a bench. If you have back issues, you can also use a Staggered Base of Support. See Scott’s videos on that below, as well as Kevin’s course on the compound lifts. ♦ Rule 3. Hands Off for Crying Out Loud! (Spotters) ♦ Your spotters should not be helping you. They are there if you need them. And frankly, if you need a spotter, the load is too much for you. Train in the range of success. ♦ Rule 4. Use Proper Form ♦ Bodybuilding is touch and go, powerlifting is with a pause. In both those cases, this does NOT mean “bounce” and go. Suits and chains are not necessary for 99% of trainees, and even then for many people they’re still not necessary. (Often things like chains are needed only when you’re using a suit, since oyu need to overload the top of the movement.) There is very very little carry over, if any. ♦ Rule 5. Consider Dumbbells ♦ Dumbbells encourage a more natural range of motion, and if you’re over 50, they make more sense. For Scott, for example, a barbell bench press hurts his shoulders even with just the bar. Dumbbells might also make more sense for people with very long limbs and who don’t need specifically to compete with the barbell bench press. If the barbell bench press movement hurts, definitely move to dumbbells. This is listening to your body at the absolute most basic. ♦Links / Resources mentioned ♦ As mentioned, Scott and Kevin have already done a fair amount of videos on this stuff! Staggered Base of Support: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iib6dHVL0GM Bench Press Bodybuilding vs. Powerlifting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7kUmzfZhgQ Bodybuilding Style Bench Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLLJlnoK7Y

After the age of 50 it’s still possible to build muscle and lose fat—but there are certain physiological realities (especially hormonal realities) to keep in mind! Episode 008 was all about providing a bird’s-eye-view of some of these realities, and what to do to make the most of your body after age 50. Scott calls fitness after 50 the “Platinum Club.” That is, these don’t have to be your “golden years.” If done right, these can be the platinum years! ♦ PHYSIQUE AFTER 50 GENERAL NOTES ♦ • Scott emphasized the dangers of too much cardio when you’re dealing with sarcopenia and muscle loss. • People wonder why they’re finding it hard to keep up with their kids when they’re doing X number of minutes on the treadmill each day or week, but the exercise they’re doing on the treadmill isn’t giving them the kinds of physiological adaptations they clearly want from exercise. They’re missing strength and the ability to exercise their muscles through their intended ranges of motion. • Even a bodyweight squat by itself will build a lot of strength. Strength needs to be built through a muscle’s full range of motion, otherwise you’re inviting problems down the road. Don’t add resistance BEFORE you’re able to move the muscle through the full range of motion. • Warm ups are very important! See the videos at scottabelfitness.com/warmups (that link redirects to a Youtube video). • A proper warm up includes “general preparation” phase that warms up the body, and then actual physical “rehearsal” of the movements you’ll be doing that day. Think warm up sets, that kind of thing. (Again, see the vids.) • Scott has had clients whose entire leg workout was unloading the knees, precisely because of the importance of range of motion. • Mike mentioned some studies related to cognitive decline. These can be found in John Ratey’s book, Spark! The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. • Scott is a big fan of HRT as a way of enhancing quality of life. Do research, talk to your doctor. • Mike mentioned Scott’s “Base Hit” strategy, where you intelligently go for “base hits” instead of “home runs” every time you step into the gym. Consistency trumps going all-in, then having to stay out of the gym for a week. This is called “active recovery.” ♦ LINKS / RESOURCES MENTIONED ♦ • Warm Ups Part 1: General Preparation Phase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHJFV13Njsk • Warm Up Part 2: Physical Rehearsal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHXYvxAU-Hw • Unloading the Knees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQsVp5TWnk • Scott’s initial Physique Over 50 blog post: http://scottabelfitness.com/fitness-and-physique-over-50/ (Scroll down for the comments.) • The Base His Strategy: http://scottabelfitness.com/basehit

In Part 2 of our interview with Trevor Timmins (Vice President of Player Personnel and Director of Amateur Scouting for the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens) we focused much more about the nitty gritty of his hectic, high-pressure schedule, and how he is able to stay lean year round, and stick to his diet and training. Trevor is actually currently doing Scott’s Hardgainer Solution, partly because he’s in his mid-40s and partly just because the program is very flexible. ♦ There are a few things worth noting about Trevor’s schedule:♦ • He calls ahead and generally has some idea of what gyms he’ll try. In our modern day, he’s almost always guaranteed to find some place that’s “pretty good.” Sometimes not, granted, but he can usually find something, and if not, he can go for a walk, or use whatever the hotel’s got • Trevor makes a point to get his work out in, because it keeps him balanced and focused for everything else he has to do. It’s less that he has to fit it in “on top of everything else,” and more that getting it in makes everything else that much easier. He feels MORE energy after working out. • Trevor would rather miss a meal than a workout. • He doesn’t count calories, though he knows what makes a generally healthy meal, and he’s very in touch with his body and his body’s biofeedback. He knows what he needs to stay energized. He knows when he’s not getting enough carbs, for example, because he feels “flat.” • At fast-food places, you can usually find *something,* even if it’s just eggs, or a grilled chicken burger without the bun and a salad. Lots of places have something. The trick is to focus on finding the protein. • For fancier restaurants and business dinners, Trevor stresses that they’ll pretty much make what you ask them to make. Steak, chicken, some other protein, grilled, plus a salad or baked potato or some other side, and it’s not too hard, assuming you’re not stressing over counting each last calorie. ♦ Links / Resources mentioned ♦ • The researcher who writes about flow and being in a flow state is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. When Mike mentioned that sometimes you have to go "out of flow" during training, he was referring to research on deliberate practice. See Daniel Coyle's book, The Talent Code. • Trevor’s Profile Page on the Montreal Canadiens' website. • Trevor’s client page on Scott’s site. • Up In the Air trailer, where George Clooney's character turns airport travelling into a science. • The program Trevor is doing is Scott's The Hardgainer Solution.

Scott and Mike interviewed Trevor Timmins. Trevor is Vice President of Player Personnel and Director of Amateur Scouting for the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens. What this means is Trevor is the guy running the NHL entry draft for the team, so he spends each year working with an entire team, scouting around both North America and Europe preparing for that draft. Trevor in particular was responsible for drafting NHL superstars like Carey Price, PK Subban, and others. This episode is a must for everyone interested in high-level success, whether you’re an NHL fan, a bodybuilder, or just looking to improve your physique or your career. What most people don’t know about Trevor is that he is a former bodybuilder, and he actually hired Scott as his coach for his first few bodybuilding shows. Trevor now stays lean and ripped year round, despite an insane schedule and a high-pressure job. In part 1, we talked a lot about how Trevor progressed through his career, starting at the bottom with the new Ottawa Senators hockey team in the early 90s, and rising from there. Scott stressed that he knew — just knew — early on that Trevor was going to go far. From there we discussed what Trevor looks for in young players who are going to be thrust into the spotlight at age 19 or 20 playing elite high-level hockey. So there was a lot about mindset here, and what makes a champion, and what scouts are looking for beyond just skill level.

This episode was all about metabolic compensation and weight loss in the real world. It came about as Scott was inundated with emails a couple weeks back over an article in the New York Times about the metabolisms of former The Biggest Loser contestants. Basically, years later, it turned out that these contestants were burning way less calories than one would expect for someone their size–and again, this was years down the road. Does this mean weight loss is hopeless? NO. But it does mean that forcing your body to extremes, and not being realistic, are not going to result in sustainable weight loss. They just won’t. The main theme of the episode, then, was about strategies for dealing with this, and preventing the kinds of severe metabolic compensation we saw in the article, and that Scott has seen in bodybuilding and figure contestants for years. ♦ METABOLIC COMPENSATION (NOTES) ♦ The kinds of things Scott saw in the competition world, where insane dieting is combined with taking bodies to their extremes. Scott’s been using the term metabolic damage for years. People are now acknowledging that “metabolic compensation” happens, even though the term metabolic damage is still considered “not real.” Speaking of which, many ignorant coaches play the “blame game.” As in, “Well I didn’t get metabolic damage, therefore my clients must be lying.” The “genetics no one talks about.” Two people can seem to have very similar genetics in terms of how they look, and what they need to do to get lean. While one can “get away” with insane dieting, the other suffers more from the effects of metabolic compensation. The mind games that losing weight and gaining it back play. Metabolic compensation is really hard to deal with from a psychological perspective. (One reason why prevention is the best cure.) Mike’s ambivalent feelings towards the phrase “obesity is a disease.” It absolutely should be acknowledged, and we should fight ANY kind of fight fat shaming, tooth and nail. (He's been through that.) BUT the phrase itself creates a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, and makes you feel like there’s “nothing you can do.” That’s just... that's not okay. There are things you can do. Anything that might make people feel helpless isn’t useful. ♦ PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE: ♦ Use reasonable dieting. Use relative caloric deficits (~500-800 calories below your maintenance) instead of absolute ones (more than 800 calories per day below what your body needs to maintain). Note that Scott doesn’t like calorie counting specifically, but it is absolutely a good starting place. Coax your body, don’t force it. How do you coax your body? Don’t have specific dates. Your body will change at the rate it will change. Be in this for the long-term! As soon as you try to “force it” to “speed up” or anything, you’re no longer coaxing things as you should be. Don’t demonize entire food groups. You need carbs. You need fats. You need protein. That said, acknowledge that.. yes, some foods provide more satiety than others. Simple whole foods provide more satiation than simple sugars, especially simple sugars by themselves (snack foods). Avoid losing lean mass. One of the reasons for weight rebounds is loss of both fat and lean tissue. The more lean tissue (muscle) you keep, the better off you’ll be down the road. Accept that there’s a limit to what your body can be coaxed to do. What you see in the magazines is not realistic, even for the people in the magazines with great genetics.

The 5X5 rep scheme is well known. We used it as an intro into talking about the role of strength and strength training when your goal is gaining or building muscle. ♦ Here’s what we talked about: ♦ Scott pretty much always uses “weights constant” with his 5 X 5 rep schemes, meaning you pick a weight that you can get 5 sets of 5 reps without failure, and without having to go down in weight to hit your reps on the latter sets. The use of crossover effects. That is, why should a bodybuilder ever focus on limit strength? The use of the big lifts in the gym, things like compound movements, which aren’t “just” the squat, deadlift, and bench press. There are also rows, lunges, and so on. Kevin never goes heavier than his opener in the gym, which is usually about 87.5%-90% of his projected max… that’ll be the heaviest single he’ll ever do, maybe twice before a competition. None of his best lifts are done in the gym; they’re done at the actual powerlifting competition. Kevin talked a bit about the way sometimes he trains the movement for the sake of keeping his skills sharp, not just to maintain or build “strength.” It’s like a tennis player needing to practice their swing so that the muscles stay trained. Pay attention to “force decrements.” As you get to the final reps in a set, you’ll notice you’re unable to produce as much force. Sometimes this means you pause in between reps, and you make sure your form is perfect, and that you’re mastering the movement. How and why to use 5 X 5. There are more uses to a 5 X 5 rep scheme within a bodybuilding program than just the standard 5 X 5 program. ♦ EXAMPLES ♦ • The Hardgainer Solution contains sets of 5 in every workout, but those are whole body, bodypart workouts. Also, there are instructions to raise the rep schemes on the lower end (like the 5 X 5) if you start working out 4, 5, or 6 days a week. (HGS gives you that option in terms of how many days per week you train.) • A new 6-day program Scott’s working on has 5 sets of 5 for the first three days of the week, but then on the last three days of the week those reps go much higher: going up to 8-10, 12-15, 15-20. • Another 6-day program that Scott has (custom program, unreleased) is much like that six day program, except each half of the week is a mirror of the other. So on Day 1 if you do Chest and Quads, Chest will be the strength focus, and Quads will be higher rep. But then on Day 4, you do Chest and Quads again, but this time the Quads are on the lower end of the rep scheme. Day 5 lines up with Day 2, and Day 6 lines up with Day 3. (Note from Mike: I mis-spoke. The rep schemes are not actually 5 X 5. The strength focus days go as low as 4 or 5 sets of 6-8, not 5. Just a tiny bit higher. Worth keeping in mind in terms of recovery!)

This episode was all about training workout plans for fat loss and metabolic enhancement training. There was a whole lot about how it’s not just about “oh this is a fat loss program” and “this is a muscle gain program.” It’s more about putting the client on a program that fits where they are at right now. A lot of the time, the success of a trainee during the fat loss stage is determined by what they’ve been doing up until then — are they in a spot where they can lose fat in a healthy manner, without getting caught in plateaus and dead-ends and diminishing returns? ♦ TRAINING WORKOUTS FOR FAT LOSS (NOTES) ♦ • There is no “one-size-fits-all” single workout plan that is optimized for fat loss. • Metabolic Enhancement Training builds off innervation training. Whereas innervation training says “train the muscle, not the movement,” MET training acknowledges that you can use the movement to train the muscle. • The issue with cardio — and this is true with all forms of training to some extent, though with cardio it can be a bit exacerbated — is it’s a law of diminishing returns. You have to do more and more, but you get less and less. It’s better to go back ‘n forth, as opposed to getting to the point where you’re spending 2 hours a day on the treadmill. • Use a traditional bodypart split workout plan to build muscle. Then use a MET exercise program to optimize your workload capacity. Then you go back to a bodypart split, maybe this time surfing the strength training curve. Then you go back to a bodypart split similar to that earlier one. In this way, there are huge carryover effects between programs, so that the second time you do the bodypart split, your body is in a different place, and your experience of the program is far different. • Cardio does have a place, but again: keep those diminishing returns in mind. After 4-6 weeks the benefits decrease a lot. Think holistically about training and fat loss. Sleep is just as important as your workout plan. It’s not as though your fitness and fat loss is only determined by “what you eat” and “what workout plan you use.” There are other factors at play; they are minimal in terms of calories burned, but in terms of the whole picture — energy, sleep, sustaining the fat loss, mood, hunger, maintaining muscle while losing fat — it’s hugely important. • Don’t try to count burned calories. The laws of thermodynamics are absolutely true, but 1) the body is an open system, not a closed one, and 2) you never end up with a completely accurate picture, because the tools we have are notoriously inaccurate.

Get MORE from your gym training sessions using the mind-muscle connection. Scott and Kevin emphasized that building lean muscle tissue takes time. There’s no way to do it “fast.” That said, it is certainly faster to do it right than to waste your time in the gym with poor technique or a poor workout plan! ♦ BUILDING LEAN MUSCLE MASS WITH THE MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION (NOTES) ♦ The episode began with a realistic discussion of what’s needed to actually build muscle (time and consistency). Building muscle “fast” is a myth, but it is faster to learn important principles now, and use these principles in your training, than it is to ignore them. The body wants to make things easier (by using gravity, easier leverages, etc.). Your job is to resist this, and to make things harder on the muscle, to work it through a full range of motion. There was a short discussion about the importance of exercise sequencing (a topic that will be its own episode). How to use cables to increase tension on the muscle for certain exercises (e.g. curls), where gravity often relieves some of the tension. Scott referenced Pumping Iron a number of times as an excellent example of how to train. There were no “counting” tempos, but there was cadence. Watch Arnold train, and you can see he’s working the muscles through a full range of motion, not just worried about getting the weight from A to B in the easiest way possible Towards the end, both Scott and Kevin both gave their own, full bodypart by bodypart rundown of how to get a better mind-muscle connection at your next training session. ♦ KEY TERMS ♦ “Higher-Threshold Motor Units” These are the motor units in the muscle that are harder to activate. The threshold is higher, so it takes “more” to get them recruited. Experts used to think getting past this threshold was all about load (i.e. the weight on the bar), but as it turns out, it is actually the intensity of contraction, and this is possible with lighter weights. The Size Principle states that motor units are recruited from smallest to largest. Or, in other words, the Type IIB muscle fibers come last (and they’re the kind you need to recruit in order to build muscle), so you really need to stress the muscle properly to get them firing. This is done with intensity, which isn’t just about load on the ar. “Maximum Voluntary Neural Activation” (often “Maximum Voluntary Contraction” in The Abel Approach) Getting more recruitment. Most people cannot do this. The longer you’ve trained, the better you get at achieving maximum voluntary contraction. It’s an adaptive process of the nervous system to training. Since most people cannot produce a 100% maximal voluntary contraction… one set ain’t gonna be enough to to force the muscle to response. “Functional Differentiation and Segmented Utilization of Muscles in Action.” Basically, the Central Nervous System is responsible for recruiting muscles, based on which muscles have a “favorable” line of action, which muscles are fatigued, which muscles have high- vs. low-threshold motor units, and so on. Podcast quote: “If you overload a specific muscle in one plane, then it would make sense to follow that in a very specific other plane, to reach the belly of the muscle.”

This episode was our introduction to the show, plus it featured a discussion about what you need to focus on to achieve a sculpted physique: a bird’s eye view, or overview. (Plus a lot of ranting about what not to do!) Introductions: Scott Abel, Kevin Weiss, and Mike Forest. You can read more about them at our “The Hosts” page of the physique website (http://smartersculptedphysique.com/hosts/), but, briefly: ♦ Scott Abel ♦ Spent 4 decades in bodybuilding, and has been to the top, on the cover of magazines, ghostwriting for magazines, and more. In his heyday, he was known for his ability to stay guest-posing lean year-round using the Cycle Diet. He’s coached hundreds if not thousands of clients from all walks of life—from competitive bodybuilders to regular folks. (Scott also mentioned that Andy, our cover model, is a client. You can find him on Instagram at @therealandysinclair.) ♦ Kevin Weiss ♦ Started this whole fitness thing way back at age 12, and his first bodybuilding competition at 15 years old, and his last one at age 40. Kevin transitioned to coach in 2003. He’s been coaching online, but also opened his own private gym 11 years ago. He now has clients now between 15 and 85! Recently, in Potchefstroom, South Africa, he became an M1 International Powerlifting Federation World Champion. ♦ Mike Forest ♦ Mike’s lost about 100 lbs. and kept it off for 10 years. He’s interested in the principles of training, diet, program design, and so on, but also habits, the brain, and optimising everything you do. What strategies make things easier, and allow you to get more done? He’s also a part-time PhD candidate, ABD, writing about rhetoric and semiotics in Dickens. ♦ Getting a Sculpted Physique (Notes) ♦ You have to be present, in whatever you’re doing. As an individual, you have to be aware of your mental, emotional, and physical, not compartmentalise them. If you get into something like physique or bodybuilding or whatever—when you do it right, you can use that and build on it. You don’t have to let it eat up your life. That’s the opposite of what should happen, and yet it’s what’s most common. The difference between mastery and obsession: do you own what you’re doing, or does it own you? You don’t get a physique at any cost. This involved a discussion of the dangers of getting too involved in the bodybuilding subculture: drugs, diet obsession, that kind of thing. “The bodybuilding subculture—they really hammer the ‘cult’ in 'subculture.'” Why coaching is often how you avoid dangers. Coaching is two things: accountability and support. A good coach provides both, and knows when to use both. Scott quoted a line from Vern Gambetta, how a coach transitions from being a guiding light to more of a mirror. The client learns self-sufficiency, not dependence. A good coach treats every person individually. You need to learn what progress really looks like. Sometimes it’s not measurable, even if it’s not visually available. Similarly, killing yourself in the gym is not “progress.” You build workload capacity and recovery capacity. You don’t just annihilate yourself. Instead: “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.” Scott ranted about using phones at the gym: they get in the way of the mind-muscle and mind-body connection.In terms of what to write down or “track,” it’s not all about numbers In powerlifting, it is, to a greater extent, but in bodybuilding, less so. The importance of tweakology, as it relates to diet, program design, everything. How the industry complicates what is simple, but then simplifies what is complicated… because they’re not dealing with people as individuals. An example of oversimplifying things is just cutting calories and adding cardio when weight los...